Town to seek lower rate

Coulee Dam will seek a lower interest rate for its loan for the proposed Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The town currently has a $4.992 million loan from the Department of Ecology at 2.7 percent interest.

The town council Wednesday asked engineering firm Gray & Osborne to prepare an application for a 1-percent, 20-year loan from the state’s Public Works Trust Fund.

The PWTF projects are awarded after approval by the state Legislature, with funds being made available in 2014.

Council members were told that Gray & Osborne would prepare the application to PWTF without cost to the town.

The filing of the application is due May 31, and will put Coulee Dam in competition with other cities, towns, counties and special purpose districts in the state for some $400 million in money appropriated by the Legislature.

Council members were told that the process is highly competitive, and there was no guarantee that the town would get funding. If it did, it would cut the amount of payments to repay the loan and could result in less cost to residents on their sewer service bills.